I am Gotham
by Lasgalendil
Summary: Selena Kyle. Rachel Dawes. Harvey Dent. Bruce Wayne. Edward Nigma. Jack Napier. Jimmy Connolly. Gwen Paltron. In the rising death toll of corruption and scandal, Gotham’s citizens tell their stories. But can you know them by their words alone? Nolanverse.
1. Chapter 1

**_In the rising death toll of corruption and scandal, Gotham's citizens tell their stories. But will you know them by their words alone?_**

**_AN: For freakwrtierCHM and Shadir._**

* * *

I am Gotham.

And I dare to challenge corruption and crime. I am Gotham because I have refused to let killers walk free and have stopped vigilantes from becoming killers. I am Gotham because I have watched watchmen and have struck a friend. I am Gotham because I have loved and lost…and I am Gotham because I have believed in a man, believed in two men, and was by both of them deceived.

I am brave and yet a coward. I am hope and yet despair. You ask me to wait and I decline. You press for an answer and I need more time.

I am Gotham because you hold me on a pedestal. I am Gotham because you refuse to let me go. I am Gotham because you make my decisions for me…

And I am Gotham because I will leave you, and you will never know.

I will always disappoint and be disappointed. I am both selfless and selfish, kind and callous, lover and luck…

.

.

.

...I am Gotham. And I give my answer only at the end.

* * *

**For answer, see next chapter.  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**_In the rising death toll of corruption and scandal, Gotham's citizens tell their stories. But will you know them by their words alone?_**

**_AN: For freakwrtierCHM and Shadir._**

* * *

I am Gotham.

…and I have two faces. One is a mask, the other, a lie.

This city is afraid of me for I have seen her true face though she knows not mine. Her gutters are filled with blood and the streets are but extensions of the gutters lined with the filth of corruption and greed. I am Gotham, for I have become the strong, preying on the weak.

I am Gotham, for some say I am an Angel fallen from grace, that I and I alone stand between this city and its final damnation.

I am Gotham, for others claim I am a demon, in my protection seeking only redemption.

Yet I am Gotham, for I am both.

I am vengeance. I am anger. I am darkness and I am fear. I have loved and I have lost, yet still I sacrifice and I will save.

I am Gotham, for I am a guardian: both villain and victor, friendless and fiend.

* * *

**Chapter One: Rachel Dawes, Gotham City ADA.  
**


	3. Chapter 3

**_In the rising death toll of corruption and scandal, Gotham's citizens tell their stories. But will you know them by their words alone?_**

**_AN: For freakwrtierCHM and Shadir._**

* * *

I am Gotham.

I am Gotham because I am _corruption_. And there is not a councilman nor judge who does not answer to me. I am Gotham, because I am a coward, and send lesser men to do my violent bidding. I peddle drugs in the streets on whores on the corners. I am Gotham because I answer to money and money alone...

I am Gotham. For I incite poor men to murder and the hungry to crime. I feed on the blood of the helpless and weak. I am Gotham, and I am power. Yet on this blood I have become lazy and content, and the rule of my reign is fading. I am Gotham, for I will not yield it readily to another…

Yet in my pride I am easily betrayed.

* * *

**Chapter Two: Batman/Bruce Wayne.  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**_In the rising death toll of corruption and scandal, Gotham's citizens tell their stories. But will you know them by their words alone?_**

**_AN: For freakwrtierCHM and Shadir._**

* * *

I am Gotham.

…because this city has two faces. One is life, the other death. Villain or vigilant. Criminal or cop. Kindness or cruelty. I am Gotham, because I am witness of the truth: there is no life without pain, no sacrifice worth victory, no vigilante without violence, no chance without consequence…

…no believing without becoming.

I am Gotham because I have lost. I am Gotham because was chosen. I am Gotham because the only sensible way to live in a senseless world is without rules. I am Gotham because I believe in Chance. All men must die, and Justice presides over them. Her left hand knows not what her right hand is doing. With the one she gives, with the other she takes away...

I am Justice. I am blind, unbiased, and fair. All it takes is the toss of a coin…

I am Gotham. Heads, you live...Tails, you _die._

* * *

**Chapter Three: Carmide Falcone, Mafioso.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**_In the rising death toll of corruption and scandal, Gotham's citizens tell their stories. But will you know them by their words alone?_**

**_AN: For freakwrtierCHM and Shadir._**

* * *

I am Gotham.

I am Gotham because I am vengeance. And I will stalk these silent streets and wait in the rising reek of shit and shadows and my hurt will not be assuaged. I am Gotham, because I am a Huntress, and I will seek my prey.

I am Gotham, because good and evil are only arbitrary, and I will strut above the lamp-lit skyline and I will show her citizens the truth. For I am both fiend and feline, crusader and criminal, villain and vigilante, promiscuous, protector, provacateur. I have nine names and nine lives...

I am Gotham, for I had a sister, and in the filth of my streets and gutters you violated her.

I am Gotham. I do not forget.

…I do not forgive.

* * *

**Chapter Four: Harvey Dent, Gotham City District Attorney.  
**


	6. Chapter 6

**_In the rising death toll of corruption and scandal, Gotham's citizens tell their stories. But will you know them by their words alone?_**

**_AN: For freakwrtierCHM and Shadir._**

* * *

_I will give you four clues_

And you spell my name.

You will know who I am

At the end of our game.

I begin in the middle,

Yet I end in beginning

I move on to open

In the center of close.

Third, both the mid-sound of something

And the beginning of those

Three sounds, four letters

If wisely you chose.

Now add them together

with what I proposed.  


I am Gotham…

…because a city never tells the truth.

And I am Gotham because a city never tells a lie. I am Gotham because I have learned her language well, and as her lover am I intimate with both her poetry and her poise…

I am Gotham because the answer is obvious, and I am Gotham because the guilt will rest in your hands. Blood and bone, heist and horror, murder and madness may all be prevented. I am Gotham because I am a teacher, and as my pupil you must learn to _think_.

…I am Gotham, because a lover never truly lies. She simply speaks…in _riddles._

* * *

**Chapter Five: Selena Kyle/Catwoman(Her Sister's Keeper).  
**


	7. Chapter 7

**_In the rising death toll of corruption and scandal, Gotham's citizens tell their stories. But will you know them by their words alone?_**

**_AN: For freakwrtierCHM and Shadir._**

* * *

I am Gotham.

…and I am both trampled and abused. I am Gotham, because the world has told me I am human garbage, and little boys like me can only grow up to become bad men. I am Gotham, because they say the lucky ones are the ones who died or who killed themselves…

And I am Gotham because I do _not_ give in.

I am Gotham because I am innocent. I believe in Harvey Dent. I believe in choice not circumstance, volition not violence, creed not chaos, and I retain my innocence in indecent times. I am Gotham because I have been offered a choice: cop or criminal, corrupt or compassionate, hero or hellion, villain or victim…

And I have made my choice.

…I am Gotham because naivety is both deadly and dangerous.

I am Gotham because a martyr never dies.

* * *

**Chapter Five: Edward Nigma/The Riddler.  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**_In the rising death toll of corruption and scandal, Gotham's citizens tell their stories. But will you know them by their words alone?_**

**_AN: For freakwrtierCHM and Shadir._**

* * *

I am Gotham. And I am _laughing._

…Wanna know why?

I. Am. Gotham. And I'm laughing because life is far, _farrr_ too short to be taken..._seriously._

I am Gotham, because I believe what doesn't kill you only makes you…_stranger_. I see things on the uh, funny side. The world is chaos, chaos, and all the rules and morals and codes and magna cartas, declarations and statutes are nothing but a uh, _joke_. A _baaaaad_ joke. Because Life. Is. Pain. And chaos…and everyone-even the cops, even your parents, even the _Baddie-Batty Batman_-who wants to tell ya differently is _ly-ing._

Because they know. Oh, they know.

Life is _pain._ And yet they have the hmmm, _balls_ to call it _good._

…So I'm askin' ya, who's the _real_ 'joker' here. Me?

…or them?

Because I don't mock pain. Oh, no. Ya see they're the ones who told the _baaad_ jo_k_e…I'm just here to prove 'em wrong. I'm going to uh, make them eat their _words..._

I am Gotham because this city deserves a better class of _criminal. _And I'm gonna give it to 'em. I am Gotham because Gotham isn't a _city._ Gotham's a world. A world in need of a _god…_

...And I am its savior.

I am Gotham because _Life. Is._ _Funny._ So let's put a _smile_ on that face...

* * *

**Chapter Seven: GCPD Homicide Detective Jimmy Connolly (Ernestina OC).  
**


	9. Chapter 9

**_In the rising death toll of corruption and scandal, Gotham's citizens tell their stories. But will you know them by their words alone?_**

**_AN: For freakwrtierCHM and Shadir._**

* * *

I am Gotham.

I do not learn from my mistakes. Yet the sins of my past have come back to haunt me. I am Rachel, mourning for her children, refusing to be comforted for they are no more. I am Gotham, and it was my voice heard weeping in Ramah…

A week ago an Angel died in Gotham. I will find out _who._ I will find out _why_.

...I am Gotham. My fury knows no bounds.

An apocalypse is coming: this city will reel under fiery hailstones and blood, and woe to every woman who is with child. I am Gotham, for I am merciless and I punish with vengeance and cast aside all maternal tenderness. As a dog eats its pups, and a sow refuses to suckle, so am I. I am Gotham, for from my suffering I have learned cruelty and forgotten compassion.

I am Gotham. For life is a harsh mistress and a barren womb.

I am Gotham, Ernestina. I fight to the death.

* * *

**Chapter Eight: The Joker/Jack Napier.  
**


End file.
